Why 60-some­things are the most lu­cra­tive customers for banks

BANKS are cash­ing in on older customers who leave large sums in cur­rent ac­counts that pay lit­tle or no in­ter­est.

Customers of around 61 are the most lu­cra­tive cur­rent ac­count hold­ers for high street banks, says the City watch­dog. They hold around £33,000 in their cur­rent ac­count and £17,000 in a sav­ings ac­count, Financial Con­duct Au­thor­ity re­search shows. Most cur­rent ac­counts of­fered by ma­jor banks such as Bar­clays, Hal­i­fax and HSBC are free to use if customers are in credit, but pay no in­ter­est.

Banks profit from their cash by us­ing it to fund mort­gages and loans, for which they charge far higher rates. They profit from eight in ten customers, says the FCA, which stud­ied the UK’s 73mil­lion ac­counts. The next most lu­cra­tive cus­tomer is 39 and pays out in high over­draft charges.